Further Globalization?

Before 3 years, the bus fare from Peelamedu to Gandhipuram, a four kilometer journey was INR 3 and now it has climbed to Rs. 5.  But why this 60% increase in fares?

Before 3 years, the rate of petrol was less than Rs.50 and now it is Rs.70. But Why this 40% increase?

Before 3 years, mess fee at our hostel was Rs.1100 to Rs.1300 and now it is Rs.2100 to Rs.2400.  Leave the exception of “Rich menu” but still why is there a 90% increase?

When asked why this increase they replied “entire price rise issue and inflation in every sector as a repelling effect of Globalization mainly of is Eurozone crisis”. Government, if they are very sure of what they are talking about then they wouldn’t still globalize the country by opening up markets to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail sector?

They say it is because of Globalization but, why do they still want to Globalize.

Retail market what we are talking here might sound simple to you, but the efficacy and the power of Indian retail market will definitely amaze a normal human brain with emotions. According to KPMG report, retailing is the third biggest growing sector in the world; it stands next to Agriculture in the country with a 40% cut on the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of our country which is approximately 460 Billion dollars.

Following are the possible after effects of globalization.

Monopolization of Market

Opening up of retail market  is nothing but indirectly asking all the Multinational heavy weights to occupy our country in an economic basis. The regulation of prices will completely lie in the hands of these Multi National Companies’ (MNC) and even if there is a govt. regulatory body it could be puppeteer-ed. But this time to get freedom from this occupation will be much tougher as it is an occupation on economy.

If this policy is adopted then it is even tough to save our very own organized retailers (Subiksha, Reliance fresh and others) who account to 5% of retail market who are yet to settle. At this time globalizing would right away lead to market monopolization as there is no competition for the foreign players.

From Employment to Unemployment

Anand Sharma, the minister of commerce, industry and textiles, who earlier this week became a sudden villain for many said FDI will bring in 10 million new jobs, but the question is what about the livelihood of 40 million working population who are already in business? Figures may complicate things in simple terms, introducing 51% FDI is nothing but making Viruthunagar jobless which is one the trading town of Tamilnadu. Just think about rest of India!

The minister also said 10 million new jobs, how on earth is it going to happen? Wal-Mart, the multiband retailer which was started in 1962 has employed just 1.2 million though it has stations all over the globe but how is our minister so sure that 10 million in India are going to be employed of this.

We Indian, Buy Indian

Some argued, middleman will be removed from the whole supply-chain, but even if that is the case I’m pretty sure introducing FDI is never going to profit the great farmers of India. As in this case the profit earned by middlemen will also be eaten up by Retail giants.

Middlemen are Indians but these Walmart’s and Tesco’s guys are not. So it is better even if it stays like this. We Indian let us help another Indian instead of voluptuously fed foreign retailers’.

So, you want good infrastructure…

Government is very assertive that these inflows will create better infrastructure like cold storage facilities and others which is a part of logistics, if that is the case then why can’t government liberalize logistics alone or why shouldn’t government undertake logistics as a public sector and run it if it is so much worried.  Already, the Government of Tamilnadu has ordered in building cold storages and Godowns for the benefit of farmers and let “India Inc” also do the same.

From Savings Driven Economy to Consumer driven economy

My grandfather saved a lot and that was the time of socialist, my dad saved a little and that was the time of partial liberalization and now, they don’t want me to save anything by promoting consumer driven economy by liberalizing markets completely. Our country has always been safeguarded by individual’s bank savings and this proposed neo-economic strategy has every key ingredient which can shatter the economic stability of our nation in the long run.

What is your wish, to make us employees?

With 5000 bucks, people were able to become self made entrepreneur by starting a Kirana shop or in tamil petty kadai but, this new policy will vehemently deny the dreams of an enterpriser by creating an ambience which encourages people to become employees for these foreign behemoths’ instead of  promoting entrepreneurship.

Conclusion?

Brick by brick, every nation is built on certain fundamental values. India as a nation was raised on the savings and hard-work of people with the help of bountiful nature.  And if this new policy is put into force, it will annihilate every value upon which this very nation was built upon. “They” will try to live upon our saving, exploit our work force and plunder our wealth. So, this is new “Manmohanomics” shouldn’t be put into action for the welfare of a billion.

Unnaipol oruvan,
Alagiri Samy.S
www.rebelspath.blogspot.com

Because of a few men

Rain was drizzling and the breeze felt pleasant as it passed by my cheek. Hot tea complimented the resplended climate at Rajapalayam on 31st October, 2011.

Meanwhile, I noticed an uniformed band performed “Enga kula thangam, thevar kula singam” in a loud fashion and half a dozen guys were dancing to the tune on the sludgy Rajapalayam-Thenkasi highway.  They were followed by more than a hundred dhothi-ed men and neatly saree-d women, I was able to see a great sense of pride as they moved closer to the statue that was a little far away from me. A man with a white turban garlanded the idol for which later poojas were made with camphor which are usually used for poojas of Gods. Exuberance filled the atmosphere. One of them shouted with full enthusiasm, “Muthuramalinga Thevar” and rest of the crowd shouted in chorus “Vazhga”. And then I realized that it was the statue of U.Muthuramalinga Thevar.

Rewinding the tape two days back, when I was in the southern districts of Tamilnadu I was able to notice a few things. There were barricades in roads for 200meters for every 30km with check posts of police at the beginning and at the end of it. Vajra, the anti-riot vehicle of police were placed in many villages which has majority Dalit population. Policemen of all nine districts which included all sorts of policemen were mobilized totally for maintaining the law and order of the state in the southern districts. The apathy was that even the policemen incharge of Kutralam who are also life guards were also pulled out of their duty for the same cause. Not just with that, TASMAC, the socializing spot for many was also closed for three days on a streak to control the crowd and you know the reason ‘why’. Known is always a drop and unknown is always an ocean, I have just put forth a known drop of mine and a lot left.

I’m glad that the Jayanthi 2011, the day marking the birth of Sri. Muthuramlingam Thevar went peacefully unlike the year 1997 which saw a heavy bloodshed. It all started just as a day for paying tribute to the great man of my grandfather’s time but later he was used as an icon for a particular sect of people. Believe me, Sri.Ukkirapandi Muthuramalinga Thevar can be regarded as the modern day Karnan and I always wish to become like him someday. When the whole of Ramanathapuram was in drought and when people came to him, he gave them land and paddy which was the need of the hour without checking who they were and what they are, that was U.Muthuramalinga Thevar. But today the day for homage has become the day to show supremacy of one over another by a few.

Thevar Jayanthi is just one of the few things that is happening around us. A few others are Sri. Immanuvel Sekaran Memorial Day, when the listed caste people of Tamilnadu come together at the Paramakudi to pay homage. This year more than 5 were shot dead during the same day and Emergency was placed in those districts.  Would Mr. Immanuel Sekaran have asked for this? Would he have asked for five lives on that day? Definitely no, instead he would have asked you to work for the social upliftment as he did. But today the day to pay respect for the Major.Immanuvel Sekaran has become the day to show the rest of the people the strength by a few.

This is just not in Tamilnadu but found everywhere else. Sri Narayana Jayanthi in the ‘God’s own country’ is also one such event. As I had said earlier, this is just a drop. All these are available in various levels in the society and in all places.

Do you think the person who rallies on road for the Jayanthi knows what these great men fought for or for what they lived? Do they know what these legends considered as their pillars of life? No, they don’t. Sekaran and Thevar, the great disciples of Mahatma and Netaji respectively have been taken as icons and a certain mob is using their names to show their hatred towards others. If both of them were alive they wouldn’t have asked for this.

This disease is just not with the people but also with the government which is formed by the people. Former Chief Minister who is an atheist built the statue of Thevar at Madurai who is one of the most spiritualistic leader. You know the reason why, to please the 15 to 20 percent voting population of Tamilnadu. Present governments during one of its rule mentioned, “We are spending 20 million governments’ cash during Thevar jayanthi while the opposition spent only a petty 5 million during the day”, is it a matter of boasting? These days have been very well used by politicians to gain their vote base but are not appreciating the fact that they are dividing people.

Every day whenever I cross the Goripalyam junction I could see a minimum of 5 constables guarding the sculpture of Thevar and nearly equal number guarding Dr,BR.Ambedkar’s statue. Say the constables are paid 2L per annum then the total amount accounts to 20L per annum just for the city of Madurai for guarding the statues of two. Glide your thoughts about all the municipalities, town panchayats, and village panchayats having these statues and others as well. Just image the level upto which the government machineries and public fund is being used. If the same amount is spent on education it would have got the same Tamilnadu a minimum of 200 brilliant minds. Good government will preach their principles and will not built statues.

I’m not asking these functions to become like Gandhi Jayanthi (All due respect to Mahatma) which has just become a day for distributing chocolates in schools, closing colleges and telecasting new movies on Televisions with interviews of tinsel town hot chicks of Kollywood or become one like Nataji Subash Chandra Bose’s birthday which is not known by many. What I ask for is a peaceful function with no disturbance to public and “one for all and all for one” attitude during the day.

This vote bank politics of parties have reached such an extent where it has caused a great rift in the society where everyone is trying to show the supremacy over others. The way to save the society is not by pelt stones on statues or not by building statues or not by rallying people in support of leaders or not by spread hatred in the name of leaders but, rather by following their principles for which they lived for. Every group wants a face for branding, and these great men for the selfish needs. These leaders are not just for you or not for your group but for us and for our world. Give them to us. Whenever a statue is guarded we should feel ashamed and we should make it a point to preclude our future generation learn and practice these divisions, sects and hatred.

To communal harmony,
Alagiri Samy.S
www.rebelspath.blogspot.com

* Intention of this post is not to hurt feelings of any individual. if I had, I’m sorry.

What world needs?

“In matters of principle, stand like a rock. In matters of taste, swim with the current”, once said Thomas Jefferson, the architect of American democracy. It might look simple, but the subtle meaning it holds is sacred. Yes, taste or emotions can change, but principle or ideologies should be solid as a rock. Emotions live short, more like the JP Narayanan’s so are called ‘total revolution’ of early 70’s where as ideologies is nothing but the Marx’ beliefs which still runs in the bloods of men even in the remote villages of Cambodia for centuries in the form of Communism. Many define it differently but to me ideology starts with a reason from heart, holding a goal in mind and can produce changes in the society much faster than a raging inferno. A person with a vivid ideology becomes the leader of the society. All is well, but when did it all start? With a teacup in my hand, I gazed upon my cupboard with this question in mind. Yes, it was God who led the world with his first ideology, the Nature. A common space was created for the millions of creatures with a big banner saying, “If you have it then you can take it”. Dinosaurs were able to live but the cows weren’t able to and this is very similar to the current day capitalism. With the evolution of man from ape, man’s thought process replaced the ideologies and thoughts of God with his own ones to administer the earth better. Initially it was anarchy, where the rule of the state was ‘No rule’. With age, the society became civilized and priests led the society with the book of God as their constitution. And thus was the beginning of Monarchy. The theory evolved when Kings started ruling the states. He and his heirs became the owners of the state and monarchy turned out to be the longest living ideology in the civilized society. Ideologies keeps up the balance in the society and when it is lost, it results in a huge uprising in form of revolution. The haunting thoughts of kings not representing the people filled up the minds in the society and thus toppled the balance of the same. The shift from monarchy to democracy was gory in most of the states. Eastern countries in general chose communism; it was simple and promulgated the need for a classless society. But the life of communism was very limited like the winged termites. On the other hand western countries took Democracy and defined it as the government by the people, or the people and so on, but when you think about it little deeper, you would understand that it is a doctrine where a numerical majority of an organized group is making decisions which are bounded on the whole group. It forces you to have what your neighbor likes and gets you suppressed by the majority and dominant group. Winston Churchill, the World War winner and a democratically elected former English prime-minister went on to say, "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried". World has continuously evolved from the day of its big bang. Every state here has moved on the four stages of political theories, Anarchy, Monarchy, Socialism and Democracy and between every stage there has been a messianic conquest which led to the transit and even today we may see new messiahs rising in our society. Anna Hazare who took up the popular ‘emotion’ of Anti-Corruption in his hand formulated an ideology Jan Lokpal through which he has brought ‘minor’ changes in the current democratic system. I’m sure there will be a day when the whole democracy will not be accepted by the common class and will move to the next level of political mythoi and this transition will bring more than half the population on the grounds for fighting. For all those money-minded and power-mongers, If you think you want to earn loads of money bigger and better than Ambani’s and Gates’s or if you want to enjoy the supreme power of Gandhis’ then I have an idea for you. Come out with an ideology to administer the world and sell it well. Selling here is not as simple as you think, Mahatmaji sold his ideology of Satyagraha using the strong feeling patriotism that was prevailing during the freedom struggle, and Revolutionaries of France sold their book of Guillotine through the wrath of general public, Marx’s sold his love for equality through trade unions which were incessantly suppressed by the minority bureaucrats. Ideologies came into existence whenever there are strong emotions and Mythos captures the feelings and makes it live for ages. For all those noble minds, America’s Capitalism is on the wrong side of road, Marx’s Communism is long gone, Gandhi’s ideologies for rural India were not even accepted by his kinsmen, Socialism was a day dream, nationalism died with Nehru and now there is no ideology which is holding this world together. I assure you, a draft that can bring all people together with no powerbrokers and ‘left outs’ can change this world for good and the clue for it is, “All is one and One is all”. This success will mark you in the books of histories for ages and millenniums To the most inspiring Marx, Alagiri Samy.S

To the Future...

I asked God, “What is corruption?” He replied back saying “Corruption is authority plus monopoly minus transparency”. Without giving much time I asked, what can it cause to the human kind, after a long pause, he replied, “It was the one that took my life before 2000 years for 30 pieces of Silver by Judas”. Baffled by the answer and with great depression in heart, I asked “what can be done to stop it?” He started thinking and he read few big books from his rag. While he was screening a book, he laughed victoriously and shouted, “I’ll send a messiah with the solution and let him be called Anna”.

Anna through his 13 days fast re-proved the world what Satyagraha can do and the meaning of “Satyameva Jayate”. But the first question that arises in every mind is, “What is corruption?” Taking money for or for not performing duty can be the abstract definition of corruption. On a higher abstract level, corruption happens in places wherever there is transaction of money between two individuals.

In India more than 45% of people have been a victim of corruption which includes everyone right from 2 days old baby to the grand old man of India. The most disgraceful part is according to Swiss Bank report is India has more black money in their bank than the rest of the world combined. Yes, that is our money that has been kept over there. On the contrary, these black money laundering people are paying interest to Swiss Bank for not revealing their names.

Now that corruption has gone up to a level that through 2G scam through which every individual in India lost 1.76 Lakh personally had made the world know that few Indians will even sell their motherland for cash. Bandwidth allocation to Uninor, Pakistan based company is a standing example. Corruption initially started out of pressure, but now it has become the habit of the people which is much more contagious and irresistible than the cigarettes. This badly acquired money is used for killing people social activists, funding terrorist, sucking out basic amenities from every Tom, Dick and Harry.

Government, do you think democracy is something that comes every five years? Even if you have a slightest thought in that line, please forget it. Our Jan Lokpal is going to help us exercise democracy continuously not like voting.

Here are few important points about Jan-Lokpal

* The people’s bill will bring more 45 Lakh employees under its ambit which includes everyone right from Prime Minister to the clerks in every office.
* Jan-Lokpal can also scrutinize all the NGOs and Corporate agencies.
* All the whistle blowers who continuously try to uproot corruption and bring about transparency will be protected and safeguarded through this bill. If it had been introduced earlier, Shehla Masood would have been saved, but never worry it will save a million in future.
* If you think Lokpal can over-power parliament, then it is wrong. Can election commission or Supreme Court master upper and lower house? No right, so is Lokpal.
* Investigation will be completed in a year’s time and trial in the next one year. So, we need not tent in court for 20 to 30 years for most of the case as we do now.
* Compensation will be given if your work is not completed in time. Yes, even the western countries will envy our bureaucracy.
* CBI and other vigilance agencies will be merged with Lokpal and so from after this cannot be used as a tool to jail the ‘Raja’s’ and ‘Rani’s’ of the country “when needed”.
* Citizen Charter will be placed before every office and it will explain the working of office.
* What will happen if officers in Lokpal become corrupt? Don’t worry, it will be transparent body and if complaints are lodged and proven against the officers in Lokpal they will be dismissed immediately from the Lokpal panel.

Many criticized this noble notion of removing corruption. Few like Arundhati Roy came on print media to bring down our beloved neta. Mrs. Roy questioned the integrity of Anna? But do you know what their credibility and views are? Mrs. Roy was the one who wanted Kashmir to be given to the separatist. Few people want to stay away from the crowd so that they are noticed, but believe me standing in front of a crowd and leading them is much tougher than commenting. Mrs. Roy, please take up some other topic, not this, because this is people’s issue! Come stand with us, you will know what it means. You are welcome.

It is tough to correct or rehabilitate all the corrupt people. A software engineer knows it well, addressing problem at all points makes it a brute-force which is inefficient, but when certain strategic points are found and processed, the solving becomes easier and so is this problem of corruption. Anna’s draft checks corruption of the current generation. But how can we remove it from every cells of individual in the society?

Charity begins at home and so is corruption. Every parent and teacher wants their children and wards to be successful and this in turn it has made people choose wrong paths and has now created a society that is symptomatic, decadent and where values of honesty are rotting out. But, instead of successful individual if they try to create a good citizen then it can create a society that is blessed with political jurisprudence, communal amity and high moral integrity. Yes, it can. Yes, our Jan Lokpal will take care of current generation frauds and cheats, but the future is in the hands of every Indian.

I’m assuring you, I’ll make my son a good citizen with high moral integrity and let us all take the same oath.

Against Corruption with many more,
Alagiri Samy.S
www.rebelspath.blogspot.com

Special thanks to Viswa, Srilekha Ravindrakumar, Aishwarya, Irfana, Vishnu Vardhana and Gopikrishnana for their valuable inputs.

Mother!

In the loudest of her voices she shouted, “Save me!”

She was being tortured to death in the middle of the street by group of incorrigible people, while the rest of them were watching it silently as she was beaten to death. She was whipped badly that the whole street was smeared with blood. She was trounced severely that even the pain felt the pain. But the crowd reluctantly watched her unmitigated suffering like a silent spectator. She was hollering in pain, but she dint surrender to those hooliganism. Many cried watching her suffer, but they never acted. Few laughed heartlessly. In utter pain she whispered to herself, “I never knew my sons would beat me… I never realized that my sons would watch me get excruciated… I never thought my sons would laugh when I’m being anguished… I never knew!”

All she wanted was a little resistance from her sons against the ruffians. She just wanted a voice against them in favor of her. She was longing for it. Watching the skies in pride and with pain she said, “I always thought I’m a good mother… I fed them with my blood... I cared for them… I loved them dearly…But, why are they doing this to me? I have a billion children but why isn’t there a one to save me? Where did I gone wrong? Did I not give them enough?” Unable to speak in unbearable pain she closed her eyes slowly.

In the silence a khaddar-dressed man with a Gandian hat rose up. With him stood the strong principled “Saffron Baba”. They stood up. They spoke for her. They enlightened the crowd and created a movement to save her from torture. And they are still standing up against the totalitarian resistance.

Bhagavad-Gita says,” When the pot of sin overflows, something happens to restore order”. The Gandian man may not be a god-sent avatar, but definitely a person who proves the theory that a stern cause with lot of endurance, patience and belief can bring down great castles to smithereens. The Gandian disciple is the present day Anna Hazare.

News had a Spokes-person from the ruling party calling him a corruptible person; Question to the spokesman is “Have you ever been a soldier for the nation or at least tried to be one? Do you know how it feels to serve a nation?” You will never know all these because you sit in an air conditioned room in a rolling chair with a secretary to serve you and help you remember things. But it wasn’t the case for him; he served country for fifteen years as a soldier in the rough borders.


You don’t worry Dada let them talk because all they know is to talk. On April they laughed at us, last month they criticized us and now they are preparing themselves for a war. We will fight them, not with weapons but with Ahimsa. We will stop them, not with iron hands but with truth. We will make them oblige, not with authority but will democracy. You don’t worry Dada.

Yes, we sit in office eating tricolored ice cream on Independence Day. Yes, we sit at home watching glamour queens of kollywood and bollywood interviewed on Independence Day. But it doesn’t mean we are done with patriotism. It doesn’t mean we have abandoned our motherland. It just means we never got an opportunity to showcase our love towards her. Small or large, thin or thick, easy or tough we’ll do our part tomorrow for you. Whether it is an agitation on VOC Park or wearing black dress in condolence to the actions of government, we’ll do it. We’ll do it for you, mother. We’ll stand by your most patriotic son, Anna.

We always wanted a person to save our day and now we have one. We won’t let him go. We’ll embrace him, support him and after victory we will laud him. This will be next revolution in the world.

People say this movement against corruption is more like the Great Revolt of 1857 because of its unorganized nature. I’m not worried. Let it be the great revolt of 2011, but I’m sure the independence from corruption will be on 2101. That day the tri-colored flag will fly higher with more pride. That day the mother India will be rescued from the torture. That day she will enjoy the love and affection of her sons.

Let our children bear the fruits of the seed that we have sown now. Support Anna, Support Anna’s cause!

My soul is to you mother India. Bharath Matha ki Jai. Happy Independence Day.

Jai Hind,
Alagiri Samy.S

Subject : Tension in Hostel

Dear dad,

Greetings! I just finished having my dinner at mess. New cook at mess is kind of good, but the amount of spice that he adds to food is unbearably hot. Today, I had something looking like “Chappathi” for dinner. Thursday night, you see.

This mail is to inform about the things that are happening around me. Earlier, you had paid me a fee of 33K for hostel out of the total fee of 47K (If you don’t remember, I will be staying in hostel only for 6 months), but suddenly today my friend told me that they have added an additional 10K. I know, it came out of the blue. Even I’m unclear of the fact why they have made a sudden announcement. I guess you should know that it is illegal to raise fee the start of academic year, but I’m not totally sure why management has done this. I hope you can make this money on time, but I’m worried about the fact how other people are going manage this. Nana, I admired PSG tech for lot of facts, actually I love my college. But this fees hike without a prior notice has hurt me bad. I’m finding it tough to take it up.

For the past 4 years, I enjoyed the reality that I pay much lesser cash for any kind of fee than any other private engineering college in the whole state. It made me feel blessed, but today the fact that the fees have been raised makes me feel bad. I guess, you can understand what it really feels like.

This same incident has made me dig things deeper. Why for the same facility that was provided last year I have to pay more? Okay, they may come up with an argument “it is because of inflation”. But for God sake, Mr. Mukherjee just told that inflation is still dangling on 8- 9%, but why is there an increase of 10K which is around 20% high from the previous term.

For your information I have added the details of the “Extra-Fee” with this mail.

Boarding and Service Charge – 3000
Wi-fi – 3500
Water Charges – 1500
Electricity Charges - 5000

These were the figures that were put up on web.

The room that I stay in is barely painted, but still I have to pay an extra 3500 bucks as boarding charges for the whole year? I just have a light, a fan, 2 plug points and a window and I end paying up 3500 bucks every month. You know I can rent a house all for myself with this sum. Exorbitant it is! They say it is because of electricity charges, but electricity charges have not been raised for a long time by Government but, why have they increased it for us? For every unit (1 kilowatt hour) of power Government just charges Rs.3 for any educational institution. Bappa, Kilowatt hour is not rocket science, I can explain you, if a ceiling fan of 100 watts is switched on continuously for 10 hours, it just consumes 0.24 units or kilowatt hour of electricity and that is 72 Paisa. Hardly, we stayed in rooms! But, there is an increase in fee?!

Internet charges? I already have a netcard with a service provider called “Reliance”, but still they have asked me to pay 3500 bucks. Dadda, I really don’t want that Wi-Fi. I have used it; it takes like 10 minutes for Gmail standard view to load so, we use the HTML view. If you don’t understand, It is more or less similar to looking at earth using Google maps when you are in international space station. Anyways, I guess we have to pay this but, I really don’t want that.

And last is the water charges, you know right nana, even for our “nuclear family” we just pay Rs.100 p.m which sees guest all throughout the month. Well, here they have asked me to pay Rs200 every month. Just calculate, 3000 people paying up 200 rupees. Whoa! Hope TWAD board uses all this money for good cause. We have to request the management to reduce this fee.

Dad! Just now Daniel updated me, there is a big crowd standing infront of warden’s office itseems. I guess they are talking to warden, let us see if warden can help us out.

Try to wire or DD me the cash as soon as possible, nana. Convey my regards to athai and mama.

Bad, bad bad. I can hear series of glasses falling. I really don’t want this to happen. They have started throwing stones, I guess.

Anyways, let me handle the situation. Take care of amma. Try to reduce your work load and spend some time with amma. Tell her I’m missing home food.
Have to go now! Night. 

Always your son, 16-06-2011
Alagiri Samy.S Coimbatore

Being frugal.

“Without Frugality no one can be rich, and with it very few would be poor”, said Samuel Johnson. Though he would have been a great poet of his generation but still his words hold true for every business of the current age and the future.

I’ll try to quickly explain the lexicographic meaning of term Frugality, according to Wikipedia “Frugality is the practice of acquiring goods and services in a restrained manner, and resourcefully using already owned economic goods and services”.

So, why am I talking about frugality now? I have a reason too. This post will tell you how frugality can help you become rich, richer and richest!

In the Constituency of Madurai East there is a big pond called “Naganakulam” and it lies in one of the arterial roads of Madurai. The pond maintains the groundwater table level in its close circles and it has also served as the lifeline for the residents and villages close by for centuries. Thanks to the people for their continuous efforts over the last 10 years for converting the big pond into a “Small” pond by the continuous encroachment of land and planting of saplings “in” the pond. And in the recent times people have also started using it as their park in the evening and cricket ground in the morning. Yeah, right…Multipurpose pond it was…

After continuous efforts from the local leaders, the government of Tamilnadu agreed to revive the water resource in the pond by embarking to rid the tank of sewage, piggery, encroachment and garbage. The task was handed over to the local Member of Legislative Assembly, P.Moorthy a 10th standard pass who is also from the same place. Government of Tamilnadu in order to woo the local voters also announced other projects and one of which was reconstruction of Madurai – Natham road which passes through our constituency. (I’m not sure how much Government was able to woo its voters but I’m sure it was a high value project).

After days of planning and tender, the renovating of pond began. Encroachments were cleared and then deepening of pond started. Meanwhile the work of laying roads also commenced simultaneously, roads which are laid needed a layer of sand. (You should have known this previously) If it was a usual person who manages these projects then he would have asked the contractor to unload Lorries of sands from dealer. But our beloved MLA, Mr.P.Moorthy who knew frugality said, why we don’t we use the sand that were obtained the after deepening pond for laying road! All they had to do was move the sand from pond to Road using bulldozer. They deepened the pond and they also laid road simultaneously. “Deeping of pond” was done for more than 12 feet; (usually they just deepen it for say 5 or 6 feet). The contractor still bought sand but not from the dealer but from the MLA… MLA sold the sand from his own pocket but then if it was another MLA he would have thrown the sand into another “Poromboke”land.

Yes, this is frugality… Yes, this is optimization… Unlike others who manage projects he didn’t waste a bit of his resource but rather he was able to make money from every single nano particle that came out of the project. He was just an 10th standard pass but he was able to make crores of money out of the small thing. He dint require a MBA from an ISB to learn this or an MS in lean manufacturing to educate him but rather it came” just like that” from his mind. That is the business that we are speaking about.
You can be a politician, you can be an entrepreneur. But think about being an entrepreneurial politician, you can make billions and also be a successful leader in the society, but the ulta pulta is FAIL. (Political entrepreneur)

To all the aspiring politicians and entrepreneurs.

Understanding frugality,

Alagiri Samy.S

Post Script: If Mr. P. Moorthy sees this post in facebook or in my blog you are always welcome to knock my door to get the appreciations directly.